• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.2007-2010
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• 2015

A new chemical inhibitor against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus helicase, 7-ethyl-8-mercapto-3-methyl-3,7-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione, was identified. We investigated the inhibitory effect of the compound by conducting colorimetry-based ATP hydrolysis assay and fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based double-stranded DNA unwinding assay. The compound suppressed both ATP hydrolysis and double-stranded DNA unwinding activities of helicase with IC₅₀ values of 8.66 ± 0.26 μM and 41.6 ± 2.3 μM, respectively. Moreover, we observed that the compound did not show cytotoxicity up to 80 μM concentration. Our results suggest that the compound might serve as a SARS coronavirus inhibitor.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.2070-2073
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• 2017

We have discovered a novel chemical compound, (E)-3-(furan-2-yl)-N-(4-sulfamoylphenyl) acrylamide, that suppresses the enzymatic activities of SARS coronavirus helicase. To determine the inhibitory effect, ATP hydrolysis and double-stranded DNA unwinding assays were performed in the presence of various concentrations of the compound. Through these assays, we obtained $IC_{50}$ values of $2.09{\pm}0.30{\mu}M$ (ATP hydrolysis) and $13.2{\pm}0.9{\mu}M$ (DNA unwinding), respectively. Moreover, we found that the compound did not have any significant cytotoxicity when $40{\mu}M$ of it was used. Our results showed that the compound might be useful to be developed as an inhibitor against SARS coronavirus.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.131-140
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• 2004

T7 bacteriophage gp4 is the replicative DNA helicase that unwinds double-stranded DNA by utilizing dTTP hydrolysis energy. The quaternary structure of the active form of T7 helicase is a hexameric ring with a central channel. Single-stranded DNA passes through the central channel of the hexameric ring as the helicase translocates $5'\rightarrow3'$ along the single-stranded DNA. The DNA unwinding was measured by rapid kinetic methods and showed a lag before the single-stranded DNA started to accumulate exponentially. This behavior was analyzed by a kinetic stepping model for the unwinding process. The observed lag phase increased as predicted by the model with increasing double-stranded DNA length. Trap DNA added in the reaction had no effect on the amplitudes of double-stranded DNA unwound, indicating that the $\tau7$ helicase is a highly processive helicase. Global fitting of the kinetic data to the stepping model provided a kinetic step size of 10-11 bp/step with a rate of $3.7 s^{-1}$ per step. Both the mechanism of DNA unwinding and dTTP hydrolysis and the coupling between the two are unaffected by temperature from $4∼37^{\circ}C$. Thus, the kinetic stepping for dsDNA unwinding is an inherent property of tile replicative DNA helicase.